Accounts Associate

Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the global development network of the United Nations system that is on the ground in over 140 countries, with its Headquarters in New York, USA. The Bureau for Management Services (BMS) is a central Bureau tasked with the development of corporate strategies, policies, tools and systems in key cross-cutting management areas. Drawing on sound analytics and a risk-management approach, BMS supports the achievement of development results through management advice, innovative business solutions, and other corporate services in line with international best practices and evolving needs and expectations of development partners. BMS also ensures policy adherence in operations management within UN Rules & Regulations, safeguarding UNDP’s accountability vis-à-vis Member States and other stakeholders.

The Office of Financial Resources Management (OFRM) performs a pivotal role within BMS and within UNDP’s global finance function, partnering with Bureaux and Country Offices. The primary role of OFRM is to maintain the financial integrity of UNDP through providing financial leadership, supporting the efficient and effective management of its financial resources, promoting financial sustainability and responsible resource allocation in the context of a fluctuating funding environment. This is accomplished by the development and implementation of sound financial policies and practices, oversight of corporate financial management performance, and flexible scalable support to resource allocation. OFRM is a key source of information for the Executive Board, General Assembly, to Partners and wider civil society. It supports transparency through the provision of on time and quality statutory and other financial reports that comply with international standards and regulatory guidelines.

Effective and efficient integrated resources management is enabled through a continuous and robust process comprising:

• Formulation and implementation of corporate financial and administrative strategies, policies and procedures;
• Formulation, alignment, documentation and implementation of UNDP’s funding frameworks, assuring their integrity, viability and alignment with the Strategic Plan;
• Provision of policy guidance, advisory services and operational support to strengthen client capacities and help them achieve results, seeking to build consensus within UNDP and with key stakeholders on critical budgetary related matters requiring Executive Board legislation;
• Administration of the organization’s internal control framework, overseeing and monitoring financial management of all global UNDP offices, including through formulation/implementation of resource planning, management and oversight tools and reports;
• Promoting clear accountability for financial transactions and producing financial statements, including financial reporting to donors and the UNDP Executive Board.

Accounts and Client Service Division provides accounting, resource management and financial services. The Corporate Financial Reporting (CFR) promotes clear accountability for financial transactions and produces corporate financial statements. The Client Service Team (CST) provides advisory services and operational support to strengthen client capacities The GSSC provides transactions services to UNDP offices and other ad-hoc services to OFRM.

Under the overall supervision and guidance of the Accounts Specialist, Corporate Financial Reporting, the Accounts Associate is primarily responsible for maintaining control over the data held in the UNDP financial systems. This is an integral aspect of the work of the Corporate Financial Reporting which is accountable for the control and integrity of all UNDP financial data and its related processing.

In this role, the incumbent is responsible for assisting financial closures and preparation of the assigned financial statements; maintaining the master data elements for UNDP and partner agencies; assist with procure to pay expense accounting.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provides assistance in the preparation of the statutory/corporate reports including Financial Statements, Trust fund statements, Executive Board reports and other corporate reports required for decision making.

• Assists in data collection and preparation of financial statements and trust fund Statements
• Prepares financial highlights, interim financial reports, and information/data for audit and provides data analytics services relating to the Financial Statements to Global Process owners.

2. Assists with general ledger preparation and review:

• Prepare adjustment and reclassification entries
• Assist with review of data quality
• Analyze account balances.
• Review extracted commitment data.
• Support revaluation, receipt accrual, GMS, and other corporate accounting processes

3. Analyzes accounting balances during monthly, quarter and year-end closure

• Analyzes significant/unusual/material items and recommended follow-up on balance sheet accounts
• Analyze expense account balances.

4. Assist in monitoring of compliance with financial procedures

• Follows-up and monitors Country Office submissions and account analysis
• Liaises and communicates with country offices on corrective actions

5. Corporate Data Maintenance.

• Assists with maintaining core accounting information (account and fund), financial statement mapping, trees and accounting templates
• Support some aspects of regular Closure processes including aspects of module closure per schedule, lifting and placing of control flags, dashboard refresh, running of revaluation, running of receipt accrual, and trust fund closure, data analytics relating to the Financial Statements, among others

Competencies

Core:

Innovation

Ability to make new and useful ideas work

Leadership

Ability to persuade others to follow

People Management

Ability to improve performance and satisfaction

Communication

Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform

Delivery

Ability to get things done while exercising good judgement

Technical/Functional:

Accounting, Financial Reporting and Analysis

Ability to evaluate financial data, derive relevant findings and present them in a meaningful manner

Resource Management

Ability to distribute resources in a strategic or tactical way

Self-management

Self-development, initiative taking, creating synergies through self-control

Leverage Technology to Develop Broad Business Perspective

Recognizes business opportunities to uses technology to develop and present strategic information

Relationship Building

Ability to maintain strong and productive business relationship with management, staff and clients

Knowledge Management

Ability to efficiently handle and share information and knowledge

Innovative design in training manual

Ability to design, construct and transform information to train others

Audit

Have relevant audit experiences

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Secondary Education with specialized certification in Accounting and/or Finance. University Degree in Finance or Accounting desirable but it is not a requirement.
• Part-qualified accountants from an internationally accredited institute of accountancy will have a distinct advantage.
• Long-listed candidates will be required to undergo the UNDP Accountancy & Finance Test.

Experience:

• Six (6) years with secondary education or three (3) years with University Degree, of progressively responsible finance and/or accounting experience.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.)
• Advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages
• Experience in handling web management systems and ERP financials
• Knowledge of IPSAS/IFRS required for external candidates.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English. Working knowledge of another UN language is an advantage (French, Spanish, Arabic) is a plus.

Disclaimer

Important applicant information

Internal mobility at GSSU is strongly encouraged and we reserve the right to reassign the newly appointed staff members with similar skillset and educational qualifications for similar functions and job categories at the same level in GSSU. The internal lateral movements will be determined based on the needs of the organization while allowing the newly recruits to broaden their skills, build networks and gain fresh experience and to better align their profiles with the jobs.

All posts in the GS categories are subject to local recruitment.

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Workforce diversity

UNDP is committed to achieving diversity within its workforce, and encourages all qualified applicants, irrespective of gender, nationality, disabilities, sexual orientation, culture, religious and ethnic backgrounds to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.

Scam warning

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Candidates must be resident in Malaysia, or have the right to work in Malaysia.

For further information, and to apply, please visit our website via the “Apply” button below.